Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Big trouble in little Coventry


If you follow the link you will see why.

Having limited internet access is what really sucks right now.

Well I am comfortable enough in B & B for now and I have recovered the things that are important to me.

All will be well in the long term, but in the short term, it is difficult for me to maintain my various responsibilities, however it is important to me not to pass my misfortunes on to any one else and let them down with regard to stuff I had arranged to do with them.

Talk about fifteen minutes of fame, our block was headline news taking up two pages in the local paper yesterday.

http://tinyurl.com/5ukmzk

More to follow when my situation is back to normal, sorry no video of the fire, safety comes first, but I hope to post a video diary or something on youtube :)

I have never looked smarter BTW, had to buy new clothes cos I only had what I stood up in, which smelt like a barbecued kipper.

Anyway my flat is relatively undamaged as I was furthest away from the seat of the fire, but if the fire brigade had not attended so promptly it might have been a different story.

The sh*t comes from dealing with all the bureaucracy you have to go through just to keep any kind of roof over your head.

I am through the worst of it now and have been able to go back and recover some essential items from my flat including my flute, documentation (which you don't even exist without these days) and my precious video hard discs which I was working on when the fire broke out and had to abandon.



12 comments:

Alyric said...

Well thank God you got the flute and the videos. I hate fire. We had our house gutted on the inside by a fire and we weren't in it at the time - but bad enough. I hope you're holding up OK shock and all.

God, aren't there so many stupid twits in the world. That disabled woman could easily have been killed and these yobs probably think they've been clever little sods.

Keep your chin up.

Anonymous said...

I was glad to hear that you were okay, that is far more important than anything you have in your flat. But I'm also glad that your possessions were relatively undamaged too. Hopefully the police will catch the idiots who screwed up the residents lives.

The article linked to by the title said "Yobs" did it. What the heck is a yob?

abfh said...

Best wishes... for both the short and long term.

jypsy said...

Take care Larry, don't let the sh*t get you down....

Anonymous said...

Bloody hell!!
I'm glad you got out OK but temporary accommodation sucks. I do hope you get back to normal soon and get compensation, or get rehoused to somewhere better.

Socrates said...

Having been through a house (boat) fire myself a couple of years ago, I can guess what you're going through...

Keep us updated if you can.

Best Wishes.

Kathleen Seidel said...

I'm relieved and grateful to know that you and your magnum opera have survived.

Larry Arnold PhD FRSA said...

Yob is slang for the loutish youth element, aka chav's or hoodies. They hang around the shops with nothing better to do than cause trouble and then put it up on youtube via there mobile phones.

I had seen a few fireworks go off where they ought not to have done, a little earlier, round by the shops.

Right now I have borrowed a camera off a friend, and am working on an aspie video project at Cov Uni :)

Looks like I am gonna need my flute for that one as well.

Casdok said...

So glad you are ok and were able to retrieve some of your valubles.
I hope things are back to normal for you soon.

Unknown said...

Wow, Larry, thank God you are OK and that the worst of the trouble for you will be bureaucrats rather than much worse.
Hang in there and I hope things get back to normal in all due haste...

stevethehydra said...

Been thinking of you since i heard about this, was thinking of calling you today actually. Really glad that you have been able to retrieve some essential possessions.

From the Coventry Telegraph story, it sounds like it's more bureaucracy that's keeping you from moving back in than the actual state of the building - sort of reminds me of what happened to the Basement social centre in Manchester...

You probably have a decent argument for getting rehoused elsewhere on impairment/disability grounds tho?

Another activist i know was stabbed in the throat by "yobs" the other day (not far from Brum Uni actually). It really annoys me that working class youth are considered "untouchable" or "uncriticisable" in many sections of the UK left... totally overlooking disabled and queer/trans perspectives of being on the recieving end of harassment and violence from the ultra-conformist, macho, anti-intellectual and difference-hating culture of many of them, IMO...

Hope you get regular internet access back soon...

Larry Arnold PhD FRSA said...

Latest news today, is that they will start moving people back on Monday.